Ep. 400 - Personal and Business Accounting Breakdown

Join Rob in this information-gathering episode as he reviews a thread from small business owners where personal and business accounting options are presented and discussed.  

This episode provides value on your journey toward more effective management of your financial life - personal, business, and beyond.  Check out the show notes for an abundance of links to everything discussed in this information-packed episode on personal and business accounting.  

So much information that you get two endings to the show!

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• Telegram Group Chat - https://t.me/allaroundgrowth 

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Send me an email at allaroundgrowth@gmail.com

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Discussion Links:

Survival Podcast
Aug 11, 2022 · The survival podcast is the only online talk show 100% dedicated to modern survivalism, sustainability, alternative energy & thriving in changing economic times.

TSP Small Business Owners
This is a branch of THE SURVIVAL PODCAST for listeners who run their own businesses. If you are not a listener, we highly recommend it.

GnuCash: Free Accounting Software
GnuCash is an accounting program that implements a double-entry bookkeeping system. It was initially aimed at developing capabilities similar to Intuit, Inc.'s Quicken application, but also has features for small business accounting.

Free Accounting Software for Small Businesses - Wave
Wave makes accounting as simple as possible. Make tax time a breeze When everything is neatly where it belongs, tax time is simple. Wave’s smart dashboard organizes your income, expenses, payments, and invoices. 

Accounting Software – Do Beautiful Business | Xero US
Accounting software to do your to-do Learn what Xero can do Prices from $12 per month Simplify everyday business tasks Explore features and tools built for small businesses, accountants and bookkeepers.

World's Simplest Bookkeeping Software - LessAccounting
Today LessAccounting has to pay customers in over 100 countries. Our software is designed for small business owners. We help everyone from the most fragile of ...

Online Accounting Software | Zoho Books
Zoho Books is online accounting software that manages your finances, automates business workflows, and helps you work collectively across departments.

BudDIY Podcast on Apple Podcasts

A podcast about living a better life through DIY. Topics range mostly from woodworking, but extend to shop improvements, keeping animals, to intellectual pursuits.

💥 Goal Setting Guide
Feeling discouraged? Miserable in your job? Just lost your business? Give yourself a new beginning!

York Meadow Farm: Lacto-Fermented Foods
Rich in probiotics, our fermented foods are also paleo and keto friendly. Eat a proper human diet.

Fountain: Value-for-Value Podcast Player
Fountain is the only podcast app that rewards both listeners and podcasters for the value they bring

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:01

If we stand together, we'll never fall. We can make a difference.

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Well, hello and welcome back to another episode of the All Around Growth Podcast, a show that provides insight and tools to build the life and homesteads of our dreams. My name is Rob Kaiser and I am your host. Today is Monday, August 15th, 2022, and this is episode number 400. That's right, episode number 400. And we're going to cover a financial topic today, but it's going to be somewhat of a loose show, something that's going to provide some information to all of us, myself included. And in large part, this is going to be an information gathering episode for me that I am sharing with you so that as we go on this journey towards self-employment and more effective self-employment, or simply more effective management of our personal finances, then we're going to have some tools and resources available here. So none of this is from me. What I am doing is simply acting as a channel or a conduit, providing information to you and sharing it with you. And the information comes from the TSP Small Business Owners Group through Telegram. And if you want to learn more about that, then I would encourage you to check out the show notes where you can find information on how to uh well how to how to view this group and how to participate in it and become a member of it. So what is this group? Okay. Um this is a branch of the survival podcast for listeners who run their own business. If you are not a listener, we highly recommend it. And please fill out the form if you have your small business information to have your small business information added to our business directory. And there's a link to a Google Doc there where you can check out and network and connect with everybody that's a member of this group. And for a list of our members and their businesses, there's another directory there too. So, guys, that's what this group is all about connecting and networking with people who not only run their own business but also listen to and are part of the TSP community, and that's the survival podcast, which I will again link to in the show notes as well. So tools and resources that are being shared with me through this group. So let's get into it. And the question that I asked the group a couple days ago was how is everyone doing their bookkeeping? And for context, I wrote in the past I'd used Quicken personally with QuickBooks Online for business, but I'm entertaining the idea of using QuickBooks Desktop for an all-inclusive money management plan. Now, I'm not overly pleased with QuickBooks Online, nor do I need the functionality of it. But I'm familiar with the QuickBooks Desktop to a certain extent, and I like the idea of fully integrating my personal and business as such that I'm yeah, if because I'm no longer fully employed at the moment, and I'm responsible for adulting all by myself now, right? So ultimately, you know, all of this, just quick little disclaimer, I'm not a financial expert. Like I'm also checking with my tax guy to see what he says, but I'm seeking additional suggestions and alternatives because basically my QuickBooks online subscription ran out, and I need to figure something out. Uh, because, well, I'm self-employed now. And uh for those of you who want to be self-employed someday, hopefully this show is of value and provides some some information that uh you know that that helps you be a little bit more proactive than I've been. So let's let's see what some people's responses were to how they are doing their bookkeeping and what they have done. Now, in the group, Tony writes, before employees, I used a simple spreadsheet in Excel format. With employees, all you have mentioned. And another user, Arlen, writes, all old school here, since I am the only employee. And then my responses were my tax dude recommended QuickBooks Online, so I went with it. Or maybe it was some other rock starmer that I wanted to be in a former life. I can't remember. It's just me and largely one customer, the farm where I live, and we need to begin accounting for a lot between us. And uh, sometimes I have other gigs that I need to track, but it looks like QuickBooks Online is now $320 annually or something. So I'm no longer in need of or interested in bank account syncing or all of that because right now in my life I personally only use credit unions and I don't want them to connect with these uh with the banks for automatic downloading. I want to manually input transactions into these software systems, utilize them as a ledger system, possibly have them act as um invoicing, do some basic reporting. I don't know. So let's see what people continue to say. The another user, XOXO Cookies, writes good old paper ledger. That's got some thumbs up. And Arlen writes same. None of hers or oh yeah, whatever. None of hers is stored in a cloud ledger or cloud anywhere. And another user, Phil Wright, writes new cash. It's a free open source program, data is local, usability is not intuitive, but it works, can make invoices, has some built-in reporting. My accountant suggested QuickBooks, but is okay with me sending a few annual reports like PL and Cash Flow from New Cash, and that's GNU Cash. And my response to that was I've heard of New Cash before, and my tax guy, my my accountant got back to me and said that he will send me a simple spreadsheet. And I'm like I said before, I'm also interested in invoices and some reporting. That would be nice, and hell, I have no idea where I'm going or what I'm doing, but I need to learn. And this is how we do it, guys. You know, we just we put ourselves out there, right? We surround ourselves with people who are doing things that we want to do. In this case, this small group, TSP small business owners, people that I'm looking to as mentors, people that can help me out, and hopefully, down the road, and maybe even with this episode to a certain extent, the information shared here will help someone else out, you know, trying to pay it forward because I think that's how life works. But I digress, let's get back to the thread here and focus on options for what we can use for our accounting. And Phil Wright responds to me and said, It took me a bit to understand double entry accounting and how to enter stuff properly, but it really has been helpful to find errors and track stuff. I use it at our fire company and can give our head engineer maintenance costs for each vehicle for the year in about 30 seconds. If you try it, do it with fake data or duplicate by hand for a month or two. So looks like New Cash is a free open source program where the data is local, stored on your own machine. Not overly intuitive, but works. Gives you the ability to make invoices, has some built-in reporting, and his accountant is okay with him sending some annual reports like profit and loss, cash flow statements, things like that from New Cash. So that looks to be like a viable option. I will link to all of this in the show notes once I give it a review myself. Because, like I said, I'm going through this again, I'm sharing a lot of this with you. We are learning together, and hopefully we all benefit from this. Okay, moving on in the thread. Societist writes that he's found a few, uh, or he's tried a few rather, and he found that he rather likes Wave as a payment processor, invoicing, and accounting solution. And you can find that at WaveApps.com, and he's linked to that there. I will link to this in the notes. Also, uh L-O-L-K writes that they use Zero, which is X E-R-O-Z.com, and uh that's basic enough for uh basic well they write, I use www.zero.com. They're basic enough is enough their basic is enough for me. Used to be $11 a month, but now it's $13 a month. Wave sounds awesome, but I don't know if I want to transition. Once you're sucked in, it's hard because you have all your years in one area for review. The invoicing integrates with my Stripe for super super simple payment and invoicing, and I guess this is zero. So he uses zero, but says wave sounds awesome, but you're kind of you're kind of locked in, you know. It's a thing. I I maybe wave sounds like you know, i like Apple's iCloud, like it's a it's a great system, but once you're in there, you're kind of in there. LOLK also writes, I tried lessaccounting.com before too, but the same problem. I was sucked into zero and don't have time to reinvent the wheel at the moment. This one ranges from free for basic invoices, but twenty dollars twenty-four dollars plus for more. Ah. Lolk also writes Zoho Books is the other I also tested. Zero dollars for under 50,000 in revenue. $20 a month, if more, and that's zoho.com slash US slash books slash pricing. And again, zero.com one for lolk. And it looks like I do see now that this is for 20 invoices per month, and uh that's $12 a month for 20 invoices per month. And you know, it looks like the common theme here is that many of these software programs have changed their pricing structures over the years. So if you are paying for a software as a service type of, if or if you if you're paying for this, then expect the cost of doing business to increase over time. And that's why I'm interested in these uh, you know, the the idea of something like new cash appeals to me, which is free and open source. And if that dovetail, if that, if if his accountant is down with that, then we'll see what my accountant thinks about that, or the simple spreadsheet that my accountant will be sending me. So let's let's continue on with this thread and see what some other people have to say. Uh Buddy Lindsay chimes in. Another vote here for Excel. Okay, and Buddy is uh you can find Buddy online at Buddy Lindsay. He is a programmer, woodworker, dyir, uh self-proclaimed eternal student, and also a podcaster. Um, so I will link to his podcast in the show notes as well. You should give that a listen if you are a DIY guy. And hell, if you're a gal too, then uh check out his podcast. But if you are into projects, doing stuff yourself, learning stuff, fixing stuff, buddy's your guy. So uh check out the show notes for a link to his podcast. And my response to all of this was that looks like my accountant has a basic simple spreadsheet template that he offered to send me to review. And I think that I will go ahead and use that to get started. And like I said, you know, these free and open source programs sound good to me. Um, and and ultimately the last comment in this thread to kind of close things out before I conclude this episode and close things out myself reads another one from LOLK is that if you don't really need to invoice and collect much in payments, then yeah, even Googling Excel templates is okay, or Google or Excel templates is okay. Google Sheets probably is what they mean. So um, yes, that is what I'm going to do. I am going to use a simple spreadsheet. I will see how this goes. Um, I will see what the accountant recommends, and hopefully, once I review that, not hopefully, this is what we'll do. Once I review that, a future episode on a financial topic will be on that very subject. All right, so we'll check out the Excel spreadsheet, what I think about it, and discuss that in the future. So next finance easy for me to say, next financial episode will be the Excel spreadsheet review. Okay, note to self. And uh, you know, guys, that's that's about it for today. This is episode number 400, a bit of a milestone in a way, but on the other hand, it feels just like another day. So I hope guys that this episode was of value. Like I said, I will link to everything discussed in the show notes today. Lots of information packed in there, and there are great little communities out there. You know, I I I find Telegram to be a social media platform that provides a lot of value like this. It hasn't become overblown and overused like some other social media platforms. There are some groups that are still small, like this, subgroups of larger communities of trusted people. Like for example, the Survival Podcast. Um Jack Spearco has been running that show for almost 15 years, I guess. And that seems like a period of time where you can establish trust in a relationship with someone uh over that period of time, and I I can with with him. Uh I've I've I've met him personally, and uh I think he provides good information as well. And the community that he's built over time has done the same, and this is a community from many of those people that are part of the community that's formed around his podcast, of which I am a member of myself. So, you know, that's what it's about. Like, we can't go it alone in life. We can, but it's a it's a great way to make yourself miserable and make things more difficult than they need to be. You don't have to figure everything out on your own. That's a great way to drive yourself mad. And all of this thread that I shared with you today was a result of just throwing it out there and saying, hey, how do you guys do what you do? I'm ignorant and trying to learn more. And I think that's a great approach to go about anything. Finding information about anything in life. You know, whether it's financial or physical or personal development, family, spiritual, social, career, whatever the case may be, throw it out there. Find people that are willing to help. Surround yourself with those of like mind, those who can lift you up, and then make sure you do the same in life. Anyways, this wasn't a show about goals, but definitely a show about some of these different aspects of life. And uh while it's not necessarily about goals, I'm gonna go ahead and link to the 2022 goal setting workbook because I like to give that a shout out each and every episode, because the framework for that is part of the framework for this show and how it's structured. So check that out as a methodology to effectively set goals, move forward, and make progress in life. And again, check out the show notes for links to that and links to everything else that was discussed in today's show. And guys, I really appreciate you tuning in, and I look forward to catching you in another episode tomorrow. This is Rob Kaiser, and thank you.